Legislative Update: Feb. 25, 2019

February 25, 2019

Governor Pritzker’s Tax, Borrow &
Spend Budget More of the Same From Failed Democrat Playbook
Governor JB Pritzker delivered his first Budget and State of the State Address
to a joint session of the Illinois General Assembly in Springfield on
Wednesday, February 20th. His introduced Fiscal Year 2020 budget
proposal estimates general funds revenue at $38.9 billion and proposes $38.7
billion in general funds spending.

Leading up to the
speech, Governor Pritzker promised a truly balanced budget proposal with no
gimmicks. Unfortunately, rather than providing a responsible path forward for
Illinois, the Governor presented a budget plan that relies on more than $1
billion in new revenue from initiatives he hopes
the General Assembly will approve this year. His budget includes new revenue
tied to the approval of recreational marijuana and sports betting. He’s also counting
on higher taxes on a wide variety of products and services, a sharp increase in
the video gaming tax, and a 5-cent tax on plastic grocery bags. None of these
items has been presented to any House or Senate committee, and none has been
brought to either chamber for a vote.

The Pritzker
budget also presumes lawmakers will approve a significant change to the
Illinois Constitution, by providing for the implementation of a graduated
income tax. He wants legislators to approve a graduated tax system, but
provides no information of what new rates would be. Every Illinoisan should be
wary of any tax proposal that does not include new proposed rates up front.

Perhaps the most
troubling element of the Pritzker budget is a recommendation that the pension
ramp be extended out another seven years. The proposal would save almost $900
million per year on the front end, but cost the state in the tens of billions or
more in new debt over the long term. This “kicking the can down the road”
is exactly the kind of irresponsible behavior that created Illinois’ pension
crisis in the first place.

Our local
teachers are also shortchanged through this budget. The Governor wants to
decrease funding to the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) and funnel more money
toward Chicago’s pension system. TRS money belongs to teachers who work hard to
educate our kids and I will fight any effort to reallocate those funds.

Governor Pritzker
offered no solutions that would increase jobs or the economy, or stop the
out-migration of Illinoisans to other states. As proposed, this budget tells me
our state’s finances will continue to decline. This is not OK with me, and I want
to work collaboratively toward responsible solutions to our state’s fiscal
problems. But unfortunately, I heard nothing in the budget address that would
put Illinois onto a better path. We need real solutions, not more taxes and
gimmicks, and definitely not a return to the failed policies that send Illinois
businesses and residents fleeing for other states.

Last week I
signed on as the primary Chief Co-Sponsor of legislation that would create a
searchable database where Illinoisans could go to learn about every issue that
will come before them on an election ballot. HB2726
would create the Taxpayer Advocate and Empowerment Act, and through the office
of an appointed Taxpayer Advocate, Illinoisans could access an online,
comprehensive, easy-to-use database to obtain complete descriptions of ballot
questions that will come before them.

Illinois
currently has more than 8,000 individual units of government and an average
property tax bill could include more than 10 different taxing districts. With
the passage of HB 2726, rather than doing research on several different web
sites, taxpayers would be able to go to one site and learn how various ballot
issues would affect them.

Through HB2726, a
Taxpayer Advocate would be appointed to an eight-year term through a joint
resolution approved by a three-fifths majority of the House and Senate. That
individual could hire two Deputy Taxpayer Advocates, and the office would
establish the comprehensive web site.

Rep. Wehrli Joins House Republicans in
Opposing 82% Increase in Minimum WageEarlier this
month, as House Democrats pushed through an 82% increase in the Illinois
minimum wage. SB01
will incrementally increase Illinois’ minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025,
driving labor costs to be the highest by far in the Midwest. When SB01 is fully
enacted, Illinois will join New York and California with the highest minimum
wage in the nation.

Naperville is
home to a social services agency called Little Friends, which operates Spectrum
Services in Downers Grove. This organization provides jobs to adults with
intellectual disabilities. The approved wording of this bill puts their ability
to provide meaningful jobs to disabled adults in real jeopardy. Nearly 175
adults with intellectual disabilities may soon be out of a job because the bill
sponsor refused to slow down the process and respond to legitimate concerns
that were brought to his attention during the committee hearing. Had the
committee taken the time to address serious issues about the wording of this
bill, Spectrum Services might not be facing the real possibility of closing
their doors. Instead, it was made clear that it was more important to hand the
Governor a minimum wage bill he could tout during the budget address. Our
vulnerable populations deserve better. I was vocal with my opposition to this
bill when it was debated on the House floor. Click here watch my bill debate.

Minimum Wage Hike: Bad for Business,
Bad for Low-Wage Workers

Numerous studies have demonstrated
that increasing the minimum wage leads to job losses for low-wage workers.
After Illinois raised its minimum wage in 2010, unemployment among teenagers
and part-time workers went up. No wage is enough if there isn’t an opportunity
for a job.

Business owners cannot simply absorb
the higher cost of doing business. They are forced to cut their workforce or go
out of business. Businesses also have a limited ability to raise prices to make
up for the cost of a higher minimum wage. Two-thirds of Illinois’ population
lives within a 40-minute drive of the state border. With higher gas, liquor,
tobacco and sales taxes, this will create yet another reason for these people
to shop across the border.

Beyond the lost jobs and higher costs
to Illinois businesses, the Democrats’ minimum wage hike will have a massive
fiscal impact to the State of Illinois. Every year one of the most difficult
votes we take is on the passage of a state budget. SB01 adds hundreds of
millions of dollars in new budgetary pressures. We already have billions in
unpaid bills on our shoulders, and we simply cannot afford the expectations
built into this bill. If we don’t come up with a sufficient increase in
appropriations to meet these new obligations, the responsibility falls to
social service providers, to non-profits, to school districts and local
governments to pay the new minimum wage. SB01 puts incredible pressure on these
providers.

The effective
date of this bill would not have changed if Democrats would have slowed down,
listened to valid concerns, and ensured that the best bill possible was sent to
the Governor. But for reasons that were purely political and which had nothing
at all to do with good public policy, this bill moved at rocket-speed to the
Governor.

The House vote on the minimum wage
bill was 69-47-1.
The measure has already been signed into law.

District 41 Survey: Reject Minimum
Wage Hike
Prior to the minimum wage vote, I polled my E-Newsletter subscribers to learn
their stance on the minimum wage proposal. Of the 348 individuals who
participated, 219 said they were opposed to an increase in the minimum wage
(63%), and 129 people said they favored it (37%).

I appreciate the
input, and will continue using the survey feature tied to my E Newsletter
subscriber list to gauge opinions from my constituents on key issues.

Mobile Office Hours Coming to the 41st
District
Don’t forget that my office will be hosting mobile office hours on Friday,
March 8, from 10:00 AM until noon at the Warrenville Public Library, 28W751
Stafford Place in Warrenville. If you would like to stop by for a brief
conversation about the issues and priorities that are important to you, I’d
love to talk with you. If you are having issues with a state agency, my staff
can provide assistance. No appointment is needed for these events. Future
mobile office hours events will be posted to my web site at repwehrli.com.

Naperville
Police to Educate Residents on Recognizing Scams

The
Naperville Police Department will host two scam awareness and prevention
presentations as part of the department’s commitment to make Naperville “A
Safer Naper” through education. Presentations will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 26,
from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. at the 95th Street Library, 3015 Cedar Glade
Drive, and Wednesday, Feb. 27, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Municipal Center,
400 S. Eagle St.

At
the scam awareness and prevention presentations, Naperville Police will address
various scams being reported in the Naperville area, and educate participants
on the best ways to safeguard their personal information and reduce the risk of
victimization. Presenters will also be available to answer questions. For more
information, visit www.naperville.il.us/asafernaper.

State Champion Naperville North
Varsity Dance Team Honored through Wehrli House Resolution

I recently had an
opportunity to honor the members and coaches from the Naperville North High
School Varsity Dance Team through the passage of a House Resolution in
recognition of their first ever State Title.

HR93 congratulated the team and coaches
for an excellent competitive season that culminated with winning the 2019
Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Class 3A State Championship in
Bloomington, Illinois. The Naperville North Huskies finished first out of a
field of 30 teams, with a final competition score of 95.42. Their
self-choreographed, award-winning routine was done to Ruelle’s “Live Like
Legends.”

Sterigenics Plant Shuts Down Amidst
Intensified Scrutiny
Following renewed reports of toxic emissions, the Illinois Environmental
Protection Authority (IEPA) took steps last week to shut down a controversial
sterilization plant in Willowbrook. The southwest Chicago suburb,
adjacent to Interstate 55, has been rocked by reports of ethylene oxide, a
toxic chemical, being released by the plant.

Samples of air
from the immediate neighborhood near Sterigenics have shown small, but
detectable, quantities of the chemical in the air. Ethylene oxide is completely
banned from release into the atmosphere. The IEPA has issued a Seal
Order to shut down sterilization cycles at the factory that uses the
toxic substance. The order was announced on Friday, February 15.

Metra has
launched two online surveys to gather customer feedback on the BNSF Line
schedule and weekend service. A new BNSF Line schedule was adopted last June to
accommodate the federally mandated Positive Train Control (PTC) safety system,
which was just being implemented on the line. Initializing the new system adds
to the time it takes to turn a train around for a trip in the opposite
direction, and that added time had to be built into the schedule.

The BNSF survey
asks questions about customers’ riding habits, including origin and destination
stations, their usual trains, their preferred arrival times in the morning,
preferred departure times in the evening and their use of any connecting
service. It also asks them to identify the most important scheduling feature
that Metra could address to improve their experience and contains room for them
to provide any general comments. The BNSF survey will remain open through March
17.

The weekend service survey
asks how and why customers are riding – or not riding – on weekends so Metra
can identify ways to improve weekend service and boost weekend ridership.
Ridership on Saturdays has fallen about 9 percent in the last 12 months, and
ridership on Sundays has dropped by about 7.5 percent. The weekend survey also
will remain open until March 17. Metra hopes to use the results to explore
weekend options later this year.